USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Truro > Truro-Cape Cod; or, Land marks and sea marks > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
It is a remarkable circumstance, and in the light of modern experience, it seems almost increditable, that so few important and really no radical changes took place in the history of the church during these one hundred and eighteen years. A single church, embracing an entire growing township, cover- ing more than three and a half generations, passing through
296
TRURO - CAPE COD.
revolution and fire and sword and famine and pestilence ; without break or ripple, without a stain upon its ministry, or serious rupture in its membership, is a history not to be shrouded in dim old records, but to be repeated and reiterated to the name and fame of both ministers and people, and to the glory of Christ in the world. None of the orthodox councils mentioned by Thoreau, convened from time to time to inquire into the orthodoxy of these faithful ministers of the Lord Jesus. During this time only one Ecclesiastical Council was called and that of little significance ; the charge against one of the deacons not being sustained.
By this reference to the general moral excellence of the community, we shall not be understood as intimating freedom in any superhuman manner from human frailties. The lion's whelp is not a lamb. Not all the blood of all the Howards, nor all the peace societies in the world, nor all the prayers of all the saints, could change the blood of the Anglo-Saxon race. Calvinist or Cavalier, Puritan or Papist, Roundhead or Royal- ist, the choleric Englishman is there, and ready to fight for his rights or his wrongs. When the Puritan turned cavalier, none would defend the gospel of slavery so terribly. The charity and forbearance of the Church was often called to meet the faults and follies of their friends and neighbors bearing the name of Christ. Committees, as we have noticed, were ofttimes appointed to confer with such to make confession, that thereby they might be restored to their former good standing. By such careful oversight and Christian ministra- tions, many were persuaded back to the churchfold, and many valued names preserved. Thus the standard of religion was maintained, the Christian profession respected, and the Church continued a blessing to the world.
May 28, 1817, it being Lecture day, after the service was concluded, the pastor read to the brethren of the Church a letter which he had received from Huldah Rich, wife of Thomas Rich, and another letter from Dorcas Snow, requesting a dismission from the Church in order to join the Methodist Church. After some conversation respecting this request, the question was put, Shall they be dismissed ? and the Church voted to give them a dismission.
Attest. JUDE DAMON. Pastor.
297
REV. JUDE DAMON.
This is the first reference in the records to the secession of the Methodists, or as they were then called, " Newlights," which a few years later seceded in large numbers. That there should sometimes be illiberal feeling, and sometimes want of Christian charity during the excitement of this religious con- troversy, is not surprising. The rising of a new church or sect with radical changes in form and doctrine from the only and long established congregation in town, was a severe strain. Through all these years of trial, from 1817 till his death in 1828, Mr. Damon preserved a singularly mild and catholic spirit, showing the broad unsectarian man and Christian. He warred not with those who differed from him in faith or prac- tice, and fairly said to his people, " they must choose for them- selves." Huldah Rich was the mother of the late Captain Richard Baker of Charlestown, of whom a notice will be found in these pages.
Although the Methodist ministers were accredited clergy- men and formally authorized to attend the sacraments and to officiate in all the functions of the ministry, for a long time there was great opposition to their "solemnizing " baptismal and marriage ceremonies. As an instance, after a Methodist minister had married Peggy Rider, and the bridal party had gone to their home, some of the congregation objected, and the squire was sent to legalize the marriage. The lady had retired when the squire arrived, but was willing to be doubly married if the ceremony could be performed in her room. All of which was done and the law magnified.
An old bachelor who had lived mostly at home and consid- erably tied to his mother's apron strings, concluded he would marry. He wrote to a handsome Methodist widow living in Provincetown, that if she would come to Truro and live, and join the "Orthodox " Church, he would marry her. The lady acknowledged the letter, and said, if he would come to Prov- incetown and live, and join the Methodist Church, she would consent. Both of which conditions he accepted, and proved the wisdom of his concessions by years of happy compan- ionship.
Mr. Damon died in the forty-second year of his ministry,
298
TRURO-CAPE COD.
during which time one hundred and eighty-six were added to the Church. He possessed a kind, peaceful disposition - was eminently worthy of the blessing of the peacemakers. There was little occasion for a lawyer where he gathered his flock.
We copy from the Church record the following short sketch, in graceful finished penmanship, without signature.
Rev. Jude Damon was born in East Sudbury, Massachusetts, the fourth of October, 1751. Graduated at Harvard University A. D. 1776. was ordained pas- tor of the Church and society in Truro the fifteenth of November, 1786. The ordination sermon by Rev. Josiah Bridge of East Sudbury. Rev. Jude Damon died Wednesday morning at twenty minutes past two o'clock, November 19, 1828. He had been feeble for some weeks, when he received a shock of the palsy, about three weeks before his death. His remains were interred Friday, November 21, IS28. His people manifested their love for him and respect for his memory by a general attention to his funeral
The services were a sermon by Rev. Mr. Shaw of Eastham, and prayers by Rev. Mr. Stone of Provincetown and Rev. Mr. Davis of Wellfleet. Mr. Shaw's text was in Philippians, first chapter, twenty-first verse ; "For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain." Rev. Mr. Shaw preached the succeeding Sabbath, text, in Daniel, " An excellent spirit was in him." Rev. Stephen Bailey has been preaching for some time in Mr. Damon's stead, from whom Mr. Damon while living, and his family at his decease, received his kind attention, affection and sympathy.
In 1819 the ladies of Truro presented Mr. Damon with thirty dollars, to constitute him a life member of the Amer- ican Bible Society, then in its youth and needing every dollar that could be raised in its behalf. In 1818 the names of sixty men and women are recorded, who gave each a dollar to purchase a stove for the meeting-house. Not one of these sixty is now (1877) alive.
Mr. Damon married Mary, daughter of Eleazer Lewis of Truro. He had sons who were merchants in New York, and John, a mute, who received the entire estate, which was exhausted before his death, some fifteen years ago. John was a great visitor, quite regularly visiting every house in town. For some years previous to his death, Mr. Damon used to take John along when he drove to see his parishion- ers. Quite probably John thereby acquired his itenerating habits. He was sometimes mischievous; one day he let Esquire Small's cows into the rye-barn, where they destroyed
299
REV. JUDE DAMON.
considerable grain and jeopardised their own lives. Mr. Damon was sent for. He surveyed the work of his unfortu- nate son and calmly said, "Squire, I am very sorry; if John does it again or anything bad, you must whip him, and you, Thomas (the squire's son), may whip him, and you Mr. Hill (the hired man), may whip him, but not much."
The parsonage in the Pond Village is now owned by Jere- miah Hopkins. At the northwest part of the graveyard, fac- ing the road, stand two stately gray freestone slabs, with inscriptions as follows :
This stone is erected over the grave of the late REV. JUDE DAMON
former pastor of the
Congregational Church & Society of this town ordained Nov. 15, 1786
died 19, 1828 in the 78 year of his age the 43 of his ministry " Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."
This stone is erected over the grave of MRS. MARY LEWIS Relict of the late Rev. Jude Damon Died Dec. 19, 1830. She was an affectionate wife a kind neighbour and an ornament to society.
Mr. Damon left a register of deaths, marriages, and some few notes, which is a valuable record. It was presented to the family of the Rev. Osborne Myrick, of whom notice is made in this book, by Frederick Damon, son of the minister. Through the courtesy of Mr. Myrick it came into my hands. It is closely written, as if every inch of the paper was gold, in a plain round hand, neat and systematically kept, on stamped unruled foolscap, with a pasteboard cover, coarse and rough as an elephant's hide.
300
TRURO-CAPE COD.
The first record, "November 21st, 1786, John Selah to Mercy Harding. The last, October 22d, 1828, widow Susan- nah Gross in the seventieth year of her age." This is written with a palsied hand. The last marriage, September 25th, 1828, Michael Hopkins Jun. to Mary L. Harding.
His own marriage is recorded on the first leaf of the book, as follows :
Jude Damon and Mary Lewis were married February 23d 1792 by Revd. Sam'l Parker of Provincetown.
On the next page he writes :
My grandfather Damon died March 6th, 1796, in the ninety-third year of his age. He was a constant reader of the Bible.
My grandmother Damon died in the 97th year of her age. For ten or twelve years before her death she was unable to walk any without help.
My father died November 25th 1813, in the eighty-third year of his age. He was distinguished for his constant attendance on the public worship -for many years successively he attended the worship of God on the Sabbath without being absent so much as one Sabbath.
My mother died June 4th, 1796, in the sixty-eighth year of her age. She was a kind and tender parent, and was esteemed for her piety and love of religion by all that were acquainted with her. She died suddenly.
The above records tell with an emphasis the character of the ancestry of the old New England ministry.
MARRIAGES AND DEATHS.
Marriages recorded, 438. Abreast of each, the fees paid. except " those that have no sum affixed to their names, gave but six shillings, the fee required by law." In a few instances he writes : "He gave for fee only one crown." Other sums are mentioned without remark, as "a crown and pistereen. Four crowns. Nine shillings three and one half pence. A half guinea. A guinea." The largest fee men- tioned is two guineas, and is particularly noticed. " 1811, October 1st. Stephen Mills to Rebecca Coan ; two guineas was given by Mr. Mills for marrying him." He first wrote two English guineas, but drew his pen through the English.
301
REV. JUDE DAMON.
It was a custom in New England to use the superfluous adjective. It shows in this case the power of habit over knowledge.
Under federal currency, the usual payment was two dol- lars, often three ; in many instances five. The largest sum mentioned is, " 1812, Dec. 3, Samuel Rider to Olive Ayres $5.75." The seventy-five cents was evidently to cover some indirect expense In one instance he remarks, " Only one dol- lar." Two instances of "married gratis." The first, " A widower seventy-four years of age belonging to Eastham;" the second, " He was a widower of sixty-eight and she a maid of sixty-six." " 1788, Dec. 4, Samuel Dickerson of Munson, to Elizabeth Lombard." Mr. Dickerson was the missionary to Sumatra, or some of the East India missions, murdered by the natives.
The average of the fees are highly creditable to the means and position of the young men of that generation. All the possibilities considered, a young man would be wise to defer economy till the minister has been pretty well paid.
DEATHS : - With the deaths, mention is made of the decease of those lost at sea, and occasionally, a special notice. Each case is numbered, so that the aggregate is readily found.
1790, March 22, Capt. Joshua Atkins departed this life, having completed nearly SS years. He was an active man and ruled the Town pretty much accord- ing to his own mind, and for this reason he was called Governor Atkins. He was nearly blind sometime before he died.
There is the least possible intimation in the above that the imperious old captain whose name appears often in these records, had tried to rule the good ministers, as well as the town ; if so, the minister surely had the last word, as not un- frequently happens in such cases.
1790, Lydia Gross aged 22, consumption. The consumption seems to be very prevalent on the Cape.
The above remark is made after enumerating a number of deaths by this disease. Of the twenty-three deaths in 1790,
Re
302
TRURO - CAPE COD.
eleven are mentioned as consumption. I should estimate that consumption on the Cape had almost disappeared, compared with the old average of nearly one half. Fever came next.
1791, March 19, the widow Mary Treat, aged about 95. She came from Eng- land at the age of fourteen, and was a person of a fine mind and robust constitu- tion. She gave me a tolerable account of London and Westminster bridges, and likewise observed that the distance from Dover in England to Calais in France, was so small that in a very clear day linen might be seen from one place to the other.
1792, January 16, Mary Palmer aged 41, was accidently killed by the discharge of a gun that was loaded with powder and shot. The unhappy and melancholy action was done by Richard Snow, a nephew of the deceased.
1800, September 30, Samuel Small aged 53. Killed by the caving in of a well. 1801, Nov. 13, Deacon Jonathan Snow aged 61. He was an exemplary man and used the office of a deacon well. 1807, July 22, Joseph Cobb aged 82 years. Mortification in his foot and leg. He was a friend to his minister and one of his benefactors. 1809, January, Richard Cobb in the eighty-seventh year of his age. A man of a serious and exemplary life and conversation. March 21, George Lewis in the eighty-ninth year of his age. A pious and good man whose great desire was to be prepared for another and better world and to have an easy passage out of the present. His departure hence was apparently easy. 1814, January 16, Isaac Hopkins, old age, 89 wanting about six weeks. He was the oldest male person born in the town that has died since my settlement in the gospel ministry.
1814, January 20, John Kenney, a native of Ireland. Old age, supposed to be nearly ninety.
June 19, widow Ruth Atkins in the eighty-third year of her age. Mrs. Atkins was a very useful and active woman, not only in her own family, but in those of her neighbors', and indeed in those of a great many throughout the town. Her usefulness and her activity in sickness and in midwifery will be remembered and her memory will be embalmed with a grateful perfume in the minds of all who were within the circle of her acquaintance.
1820, November 1, Deacon Ephraim Harding aged 89 years. He had a taste for reading both sacred and profane history.
1816, March 30, Jaazaniah Gross aged 46, a man distinguished for his active and enterprising spirit, greatly prospered in his secular affairs, tender-hearted and kind to the poor, a constant attendant on public worship when from sea and at home. In his last sickness resigned to the will of God. His sickness which was malignant fever, terminated in his death after five days of great distress, which he bore with patience and Christian fortitude. Ch. member.
April 3, Anthony Snow Esq., of malignant fever. As a husband he was tender and affectionate. As a father distinguished for his talent of governing his children, tempering indulgence with prudence; as a neighbor he was pleas- ant and obliging ; as a magistrate he was a peace-maker; as a deacon of the Church he magnified his office. On the third day from the time of his confine- ment his useful life closed and he came to his grave in full age, like a shock of corn cometh in his season, aged 71 years.
3º3
REV. JUDE DAMON.
1
1824, April 21. Nathaniel Treat aged 77. Alas for Fame! Seven words only to the Truro astronomer. Mr. Treat was a man of eccentricities, but he was an astronomer ; he did not love to work, but he was an astronomer ; he was not particularly a religious man, but he was an astronomer. "Lo ! I've lit the lamp which lights us to the skies." To him the heavens declared the glory of God and his firmament showed his handy work. He knew all the stars, and called them by name, and was familiar with their motions and orbits. He loved to study the geography of the heavens. From the seven pale moons of Saturn to the distant nebulæ he fanned his astro- nomic fire. He pitied, and was annoyed at his neighbors that they were so indifferent to the glory and grandeur of the heavens. Aunt Achsah, a neighbor, became considerably interested in his discourses. A single disciple was as gratify- ing to him as was the first disciple to the great Copernicus. One of the astronomer's eccentricities was to begin all his declarations with "I swear." He used to say, referring to his new pupil, " I swear, half the stars might go out of the sky and nobody here would know it, if 'twasn't for I and aunt Achsah."
1825, November Ist. Dorcas, wife of Binny Lombard, aged nineteen. The youngest person admitted into the church since the settlement of J. Damon as the pastor of the church. She was distinguished for her humility, meekness, patience and resignation to the will of the Lord." Mrs. Lombard was the eldest daughter of Deacon Benj. Hinckley.
I should do great injustice to the honesty and discrimina- tions of Mr. Damon, not to mention that his remarks are not all eulogistic. He aimed to leave just such a record as the departed left in life and character. Mark the careful wording of the following ! "Apparently a serious and pious woman. In her last illness she frequently expressed her desire to be with her Redeemer, where she would better praise him for his redeeming love. It is hoped she was as really pious as she seemed to be." It required courage of no indifferent order to make this notice. " He was a very selfish and intriguing character, but at the same time was possessed of good abili-
304
TRURO - CAPE COD.
ties and powers of mind. These were, however, much eclipsed by his selfish spirit and avaricious disposition."
In 1816, the year of the great sickness, or the malignant fever, the mortality list reached fifty-two. The lowest was ten, in 1789. The average for the forty-two years was less than twenty. For the two years ending with 1824, only twenty-six deaths, in a population of about eighteen hundred. A very large number were lost at sea or died abroad, all of whom will be noticed in another place. " One generation passeth away and another generation cometh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments."
TTT
HITS
CHAPTER XVIII.
1792 -THE PEOPLE CALLED METHODISTS-1882.
The first Minister. Local Preachers. Circuit Riders. The first Meeting-house. The Cradle of Methodism. General Minutes. I Historians. Grand Dedication. 1795. Jesse Lee. Persecution. Inquisitionists. Bigotry and Humanity. Joseph Snelling. A Constellation of Worthies. They marry. Spiritual Developments. Enthusiasm. Criticism. Converted Core.
to the Qualifications. Men of one Book. Preaching without Liberty. Barnard of Batcombe. The College at Seven Ponds. Cob and Corn. The Queen of Sheba. An elect Lady. New House of 1831. List of Appointments. Rev. Benjamin Keith. Rev. Thomas Dodge. Rev. Joel Steele. The M. E. Church in Truro. First Trustees. New Meeting-house. Remodeled 1845. List of Appointments. Great Revival. Millennial Day. Ephraim Doane Rich. His Psalter and Arithmetic. The Doncaster Doctor. Stephen Collins. Give Lenox a pull. The old Bethel. Father Taylor. The Wellfleet Singer. Clam Bait. Leafy Temples. The first Camp Meetings. Preaching up to the Times. John Smith. Rev. Daniel Atkins. Rev. Doane R. Atkins.
W HAT went ye out for to see ? A man clothed in soft raiment ? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses." Not yet a hundred years have passed since the first Methodist minister set foot on Cape Cod. There was no heralding his coming. No committee went to engage him, or delegation went out to receive him. History knows not of his coming. He came, he saw, he conquered. Scarcely the scratch of a pen is found till a generation after satisfactory traditional evidence of his entree. Just how and when Methodism began in Truro we are not told. Rev. Joseph Snelling was really the pioneer of Methodism in Province- town, Truro and Wellfleet, more than any other man ; though his name is not once mentioned in this connection in the Minutes, and only for the providential circumstance of writing his own life, we never should have known that he ever saw
305
306
TRURO-CAPE COD.
these places. Mr. Snelling says : "Captain William Humbert, a local preacher, while lying windbound in Provincetown Har- bor, was the first Methodist minister who ever preached in that place." But Snelling is careless of dates and does not tell when it was. From local sources, we learn that Captain Humbert preached at the house of Captain Samuel Ryder, on the spot where the Orthodox Church now stands. A society was soon formed, and within two years preparations were made for building a church on (now) Bradford street, immediately back of the Universalist Church of to-day.
As the preparations referred to were made in 1795, Hum- bert must have preached his first sermon in 1793. There is, however, reasonable evidence that there had been Methodist preaching before this date, by local preachers. John Kinney, who led the twenty-six signers of the Protest of 1795 from Provincetown -" That they attended the public worship of the Methodist and contributed to their support "- was a local preacher ; so was Samuel Adams of Truro, who was an active man in the new society. These facts indicate that the seed of Methodism had already been planted. From the best authority in Truro, we learn that the first meeting-house was built in 1794. This is perhaps an earlier date than before published, and if sustained, gives to this Church historic pre- eminence. Perhaps we shall find that the first churches among the Methodists, are like the first crosses among the Catholics, several of them. The first reference in the Gen- eral Minutes to Cape Cod is, " 1795, George Cannon, Province- town." Dr. Stevens says, "Joseph Snelling was the first preacher sent forth by the Methodists ; he labored in Truro in 1795, and there was no meeting-house in Truro." This statement is evidently taken from Snelling's life. Dr. Coggs- well, following, I suppose, the Minutes, says, speaking of Provincetown in 1795, "The house at length went up; the second Methodist Church in New England."
1795 is the earliest date claimed for Provincetown. We now quote Snelling : " About this time I received from the Quar terly Conference in Boston, license to exhort. Bro. Hawkins and myself were requested to visit Truro and other places on
307
THE PEOPLE CALLED METHODISTS.
the Cape. We were cordially received by the people. In Truro they had no meeting-house. . . . This was the greatest work I ever witnessed." By comparison with other dates, " about this time " was not earlier than 1795, and the very last part of the year ; possibly early in '96, as he says in the same chapter on the twenty-eighth of August, 1795," had never thought of preaching, and after that, Bro. Hawkins and myself held prayer meetings for some time in Malden." In the next chapter, "My first appointment as a preacher was at Provincetown," which could not possibly have been earlier than '96, as he had already been an exhorter at Truro the very last of '95. He says : " I preached on the Sabbath a part of the time in Truro ; there, also, the congregations were large and the Word ran and was glorified."
These quotations establish conclusively that Mr. Snelling was first in Truro as an exhorter very late in '95 or early in '96, and that his first appointment was at Provincetown in '96, when he also preached in Truro to large congregations. We will next give our history in the light of present understand- ing. While the Minutes give " Provincetown, 1796, Robert Yallaly," Mr. Snelling does not mention his name, which he scarcely could have failed to do had Yallaly been there.
It was first intended to build in Provincetown, but persecu- tion and open hostilities ripened so fast, that it was decided to build in Truro for the mutual accommodation of both Provincetown and Wellfleet, all assisting in the work. The original membership confirms this. Principally among them were, John Rich, Richard Seares Rich, Thatcher Rich, Perez Bangs, Nathaniel Rich, John Mayo, Zoheth Smith and Elisha Rich of Truro; Uriah Atwood, Thomas Atwood, Eleazer Higgins, and Micah Dyer of Wellfleet ; Joseph Atkins and Solomon Cook of Provincetown. Jesse Rich, the grandfather of Captain Seares Rich, donated the land then covered with oak timber, which was cut for the frame. The spot on which the first meeting-house stood is now enclosed in the graveyard. The boards and shingles were furnished by Provincetown, landed from boats under the bank. The labor was all volun- teered. Eight dollars spent for nails was all the money used
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.