USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Warwick > Warwick, Massachusetts; biography of a town, 1763-1963 > Part 18
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Paul Hadsel replaced Albert Stoddard on the Joint Commit- tee in 1957. J. A. Francis was succeeded by Frederick Voorhees, the present chairman, in 1960; and Mrs. Marian Copeland replaced Mrs. Janet Shepardson both as a member and as sec- retary of the Committee.
Both churches voted to continue the federation an additional two year period in 1959, and again in 1961, and thus we arrived at the present date looking hopefully toward the future.
Baptist Church
The first mention of persons designating themselves as Baptists is to be found in the town records of Warwick in the year 1774. This record stated that for the last two previous years cerain people claiming to be Baptists had refused to pay ministry tax and they had instituted a suit against the assessors for the return of tax money paid for this purpose. In August, 1774 the town voted to defend the assessors, but on December 12 the town voted to relieve these people from paying the tax, and on August 18, 1777 the suit was finally dropped by the Baptists.
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The great majority of the Baptists lived in the eastern part of Warwick close to the Royalston line and worshipped in Royals- ton. In 1797 a Baptist church was organized in Royalston and the Baptists in Warwick united with them. In May, 1798, 22 of the members decided to withdraw and organize a church in War- wick and, agreeable to their request, they were dismissed. At their first church meeting Elder Levi Hodge was chosen as pastor. Doubtless services were conducted in private homes and in the village tavern. Elder Hodge proved such an able pastor that in 1801 the church in Royalston requested him to become their pastor. The invitation was accepted and in 1803 the two churches united again. On December 22, 1806 the town voted their consent that this society should be incorporated. Elder Hodge always resided in Warwick but he continued as pastor of the Royalston church until his death in 1819. After his death the Baptists of Warwick continued to worship in Royalston until January 20, 1843, when 14 of these people petitioned to be allowed to set up a branch church in Warwick Center. Their request was granted and on August 3 the Baptist Church in Warwick was organized with 51 members. An ecclesiastical council was convened on August 20 which settled the Reverend Ezra M. Burnham as pastor. Reverend Burnham was dismissed at his request in 1844, and he was followed by a long list of pastors whose terms averaged about three years.
Mention should be made in respect to Elder John Shepardson who was a resident of Warwick from 1817 until his death. His home was on the Hockanum Hill road but he conducted services in Ervings Grant, in West Orange and in the district schoolhouse in the south part of Warwick. He was highly respected for his ministerial services and widely esteemed for his exemplary charac- ter.
Church services were first held in Fay Hall, but after a month these were moved to Horton's Hall at the Warwick Inn. The frame of the meeting house was raised September 7, 1844, and the building was dedicated February 19, 1845. The church was renovated in 1881.
The last services were held about 1914 or 1915, and these
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were held only occasionally on Sunday afternoons with the mini- ster from the Royalston Baptist church officiating. By 1917 the members of the church had dwindled to a mere handful of whom Deacon Ludwig Nordstedt, the treasurer, was the most promi- nent. Convinced that there was no possible way to continue the church organization, he and Mrs. Baxter Worden were instru- mental in securing the consent of the society to offer the building and land to the town for use as a library. This offer was accepted, and after the building was remodeled the library took possession in 1919.
Among the Baptist ministers who originated in Warwick were the Reverends Ebenezer Barber, Henry Holman and Jonathan Blake.
Universalist Society
The first direct mention of residents of Warwick professing Universalist doctrines appears in the town minutes on May 3, 1802, when it was voted that the members of the Universalist Society should draw the money they had been assessed for the support of the town church. These residents doubtless were con- verts of the Reverend Caleb Rich, who had resided in Warwick from as early as 1771.
In 1813 56 names were recorded in the Records (Vol. II, p. 198) as members of the Universalist Society. A petition was sent to the General Court asking to be incorporated as a religious society. The town voted to give its consent on December 30, and the society was formally organized February 25, 1814.
A petition from the Society, addressed to the selectmen and preserved in a chest in the Town Hall, discloses that on April 15, 1816 the Society
being Destitute of a house for public worship of God, whereas the Proprietors of said town Gave Land for the Public Building and considering that we of Rite ought to have an Eaquil pri- vilege with the other societies wish you to insert an article in a warrant - to see if the town will vote to give us Liberty to Build a house for public worship on the Common Land - as we in Duty Bound shall ever pray.
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The records of the town meeting show however that the article was "passed over." (Vol. II, p. 276)
Again in 1825 a second petition states that the society
has no established place of worship and their number being comparatively small, the expense of building a house would be a greater burden than they could sustain: that they generally attend with the Congregational (Unitarian) Society and pay something to the support of the minister. They therefore pray that the town will grant them the privilege of the Meet- ing house whenever Mr. Smith (the pastor ) shall not supply the pulpit, to introduce any regular respectable minister of their own Religious Sentiments.
The town chose a committee of seven to investigate the pro- posal and they decided the town had no right to grant it.
No church building was ever erected, and the society usually held its services at the hall in the Warwick Inn. Ministers who served the society were Reverend Robert Bartlett, John Brook, Stillman Clark, T. Barrow, E. Davis and John H. Willis. The decrease in the population of Warwick resulted in a similar drop in the membership. On March 2, 1845 the society voted that its Standing Committee, Henry Conant, John C. Gale and Isaac Barber, confer with the Unitarian Church. They proposed "to supply the desk in the Unitarian House one fourth part of the time for the ensuing year with a good respectable minister." Apparently the plan was a failure and in 1852 the Universalists had ceased to hold services. The following year the Unitarians proposed that the Universalists add their subscription money to that of the Unitarians, and the pastor of the Unitarian Church was to exchange with Universalist ministers in proportion to the relative subscription money. This plan also failed and the society is believed to have ceased to function in 1854.
The following Universalist ministers originated in Warwick: Caleb Rich, Robert Barrett, Ebenezer and John Williams.
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Spiritualism
Deacon Hervey Barber, in that section of Blake's History of Warwick written by Barber, gives a lengthy account of the wave of Spiritualism that swept over Warwick in the winter of 1850 to 1851. Mr. F. Cheney and his wife, of Athol, performed many seances in private homes in Warwick, in which they convinced many that communication with the dead could be made. Many of these seances were held at the home of Barber and, despite the intense feeling that was generated between the skeptics and the believers, he apparently held to the belief until his death in 1885. We quote from his work:
As the writer of this article is the only person in this town that has felt it his duty to preach this new gospel at home and abroad he and his associates desire that the above account of these things should be transmitted to posterity in this work, for their decision as to the utility and wisdom of their course.
This spiritualist movement also left behind it one monument to perpetuate the story to the present and future generations. Spirit Spring still supplies a constant source of water, and its story is most authentically told in an old letter written by Archie Jenn- ings in 1856 to the lady who later became his wife.
The letter relates that Mr. Elijah Davis had been in poor health for many years and, although he had consulted many doc- tors, he could obtain no relief. Gradually he became convinced that he was dying. Then one night he dreamed that he was in a crowd of people when a stranger approached him and said to him,
Mr. Davis, you are a sick man and if you do not get help you will surely die, but if you follow my directions you will get well again. You go to the upper edge of your rye field and dig and you will find a spring. You use the water for your common drink and wash you with it and you will soon be a well man.
The dream was repeated a second time and now Davis was convinced. He followed the directions and began to dig. Sure
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enough water soon bubbled up at his feet. The letter continues: "He used it and is now a smart old man."
As one drives down the road from Warwick to Winchester on Route 78 about two miles from the village the road crosses Mirey Brook. A few rods further on a path on the west side of the road leads to Spirit Spring. The story of the healing power of the water became well known and as its fame grew an attempt was made to commercialize it. However tests made of the water revealed that its only curative powers lay in its exceptional purity. Today after more than a century has passed people occasionally stop to fill containers with the water.
About a quarter mile north of the spring a small cemetery can be found in the edge of the woods containing some ten grave- stones still standing, though others have been leveled by the fall- ing limbs of the trees. It is known as the Rich Cemetery because it contains many of the graves of this once prominent family. And here in peace and solitude, seldom disturbed today by a human being, is the gravestone which testifies that Elijah Davis reached the ripe old age of 87 years. An inscription often found on the gravestones of believers in spiritualism adds that the occupant has "Gone to the Spirit World."
17 EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
We have previously told how our first steps to provide for public education were taken in 1768. It was then that the first appropriation was made to hire a teacher for a winter and sum- mer session. The selectmen were to hire the teachers and establish the school wards or districts which were then but four in num- ber. This arrangement was followed for several years, the annual appropriation increasing from ten to 24 pounds plus the interest from the fund established by the sale of the school land, which had been originally set aside by the proprietors for the support of the schools.
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With the growth of the town additional districts were demanded and created until there were nine districts on record in 1785. Efforts were made by the town to reduce the number to seven in 1794, 1797 and 1799. However when the committees made their reports, which were apparently accepted by vote of the town, a special meeting would be called and the vote reducing the number would be rescinded. Thus the districts remained at nine until 1830. Then a tenth district was made by forming what was known as the Atwood District in the extreme northwest corner of the town, previously served by Flower Hill District #7. This district was dropped in 1880. The districts were increased to 11 from 1837 to 1850, when at the annual town meeting a committee of three was instructed to redistrict the town and reduce the number from 11 to eight. They could only reduce the number to ten, and there it remained until 1880.
A volume could be written about the school system as it was conducted in our rural towns from its early days until the district schools were finally shorn of their powers by the state. To describe them briefly is difficult but without question the management of the schools created the major problem of the day. There was no branch of town government where more issues could be raised and over which more bitter battles could be fought.
Warwick has preserved many of the records kept by these dis- tricts and together with town records they disclose the handicaps our ancestors faced to obtain the meager education possible. Each district, until the State Board of Education was established in 1837, controlled its school completely. The voters of the district met annually and elected a prudential school committee of one or more members. The school building was provided by the dis- trict and its original cost levied on the property owners. At each meeting the necessary repairs were discussed with any corrective action invariably postponed as long as possible. Arrangements as to who would board the teacher at the cheapest rate would be made as would arrangements for supplying the necessary fire wood. All other matters pertaining to the conduct of the schools would be left in the hands of the prudential committee. These
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would include the hiring of the teacher and providing the neces- sary supplies. The length of the school term was largely regulated by the salary paid and the amount of money allotted by the town to the district. Generally speaking the summer term would be about eight weeks and the winter term about ten weeks. The children could be spared from the farm chores which were not so numerous in winter with less inconvenience than in the summer. Pupils were more numerous in the winter and also consisted of a larger number of older boys. This, with the hardships of keeping school during that season, usually made it necessary to secure the services of a "male." In the summer a female would be con- sidered adequate. Numerous incidents are disclosed where a girl who had graduated the previous year would be hired to teach the following one.
In 1814 the town elected a Visiting School Committee of five members whose sole duty was to advise and assist the prudential committee.
In 1822 a committee consisting of Amos Taylor, Lemuel Wheelock, Joseph Stevens, Josiah Proctor and John Goldsbury was chosen to decide what changes should be made in the school committee and what powers should be entrusted to them.
They recommended that a uniform system of instruction should be given in all the districts. The committee should consist of two members, together with the minister, and it was their duty to visit and inspect the schools twice a year. They were to recom- mend books and methods of instruction to be used and examine the teachers to determine their qualifications. Their recom- mendations were accepted, and the Reverend Preserved Smith served on the committee during his long pastorate. However the town failed to choose another committee until 1826, and in 1828 it was voted that the committee consist of nine members, one to be chosen from each district, with Parson Smith representing District #1. Four years later the number was reduced to three until 1861.
In 1838 the State passed an act requiring the school committee to prepare an annual report on the schools to be read at the annual town meeting. A copy must be sent to the Secretary of
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the Commonwealth or the town would forfeit its share of the state school fund. A few of the original manuscripts as prepared by the committees have been preserved and they present an illu- minating picture of those early district schools. Brave indeed were the members of these early boards composed of the best educated men in the town as they dared the wrath of their con- stituents. How the townspeople must have squirmed in their seats as they listened to these scathing reports !
The condition of the schoolhouse, the ability of the teacher and the discipline exhibited as found on the visits of the commit- tee were praised or condemned as each deserved. As to the attitude shown by the prudential committee of the districts in 1838 we find these words:
Your committee are of the opinion that some advantage would result from more communication between the pruden- tial committees relative to the particular wants of each school and the engagement of teachers. The prudential committees select their teachers and contract with them previous to their being examined. If strangers they are sent without any pre- vious notice to the school committee for examination . . . Sometimes they call but a day or two before, or on the same day the school should commence. Should it then happen the committee are not satisfied with the teacher the alternative is presented of recommending teachers they do not approve or deferring the opening of the school at a time it is most desirable it should be in operation ... Your committee did not visit schools in Districts 4, 5, 6, 10 and 11 at the close of the winter term on account of the negligence of the prudential committees in notifying them when schools would close.
It is apparent that the advice given by this board was not always welcome by some of the school districts. In 1846 at the annual town meeting a vote was passed which requested that only one member of the school committee should visit a school at the same time. At the end of the meeting more sober thought caused this affront to the committee to be rescinded.
Money for the support of schools was raised by a separate school tax levied on the inhabitants in accordance with their
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valuation. This sum, plus interest from the school fund and aid from the state, was divided among the districts as the town voted annually.
The question as to the proper method of dividing this appropri- ation provided varied opinions that caused unending debate. There were those in the more prosperous districts who felt each district should draw the money they were assessed. The plan was generally followed in the early days. In 1792 another group who felt that it should be divided in proportion to the number of schol- ars in each district won out. But their victory was of short dura- tion when in the following year the old plan gained the day. Another group was in favor of an equal distribution among the districts. Eventually a compromise was made and the method generally followed was to divide one third of the money equally among the districts, one third according to the number of scholars and one third according to the assessed valuation of the districts.
A study of town records indicates that there never was a period of years when the school system proceeded in an orderly manner. As the population of the town decreased some districts would be affected more than others. Each district was extremely jealous of its rights, and each effort made by the town to reduce the number of the districts would be bitterly fought by those affected.
This is shown in the frequent changes made in the number of members elected to the town school committee. The number was increased from three to 12 in 1861, then five years later it was reduced again to three. Again in 1870 it went back to 12. Nine were elected from 1874 to 1883. With the end of the school district system the number reverted to three, and there it remains to this day.
With the granting of state aid to the rural schools there had been gradually increasing control of the schools by the state, with the threat of withdrawal of their financial aid if the towns refused to accept their advice. In 1859 the legislature had required the town school committee to contract with and employ the teachers. It was further stipulated that no money could be paid the dis- tricts without approval of the committee. These facts were told
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the inhabitants in the school report of 1860. The committee closes with this comment:
It must therefore be acknowledged that the opinion of some, that we have unnecessarily assumed a responsibility or usurped the rights of the Districts, is not only absurd but an injustice to us. In complying with the requirements of the new school system we have endeavored to act for the best interests of the cause of education regardless of personal popularity; if cen- sured for the course we have seen fit to pursue, it must be for having taken too great an interest in the prosperity of our schools as well as having regarded a law, the justice of which it is no part of our duty to question. Signed, G. C. Hill, C. R. Gale and E. G. Ball.
The state had consistently opposed the control of the schools by the individual school districts and gradually had gained sup- porters among those interested in improving the education of their children. As a result an article was placed in the annual town meeting warrant each year, beginning in 1861, to see if the town would continue the school district system. The town always voted to do so and also instructed the districts to hire their own teachers in defiance of the state law until 1870. Begin- ning in 1861 the town had voted that the school committee choose a superintendent of schools, this office usually being held by a member of the committee.
In 1869 the state passed an act to abolish the district system, and a special town meeting was called in April to see what action the town would take in regard to this act. The town refused to accept the act by voting to pass over the article. The town did choose a committee to appraise the value of the school build- ings in preparation to acquiring them as town property, appar- ently realizing unhappily that a change was inevitable.
The mandatory action by the legislature was so unpopular that a storm of protest arose in all the rural towns. As a result the legislature reversed itself and allowed towns that preferred to return to the old district school system to do so. (Chap. 196, Acts of 1870) The town clerk records on September 6, 1870: "Voted to accept the act and return to the School District Sys-
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tem." Warwick was not alone in this action. All the towns in the area did the same. Again the town voted annually not to abolish the district system and to authorize the prudential com- mittee of each district to hire its own teachers. Actually however a study of the school superintendent's reports shows that he examined and hired the teachers subject to the approval of the districts. No incident of any conflict between the two is found, so it would appear that the continued opposition of the town was mainly that of defying the state.
The school system remained unchanged until 1882, and then the legislature once more abolished all control of the schools by the districts. (Chap. 19, Acts of 1882) It does not appear that the step now met with any serious opposition. The school dis- tricts had been reduced from ten to nine in 1872. They now con- tinued to function as before, but the school houses were main- tained by the town and administered by the superintendent, guided at least in theory by the town school committee.
Up to now we have confined ourselves to a history of the schools supported by the town. These were the ungraded schools that taught only the more elementary subjects often referred to as the three "R's," reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic. But the educa- tion of the children was not confined to these subjects if the parents were financially able to send their offspring to the "Select" or private schools held during the winter months. No written records have been preserved that give us any accurate description of these private schools. It is only from Cobb's diaries and the reminiscences of old residents as recorded at the annual town Old Home Day reunions that we are able to piece together the story.
We know that the Reverend Lemuel Hedge requested permis- sion from the town to build a school building on the common land in 1771. No further mention is made on the subject but doubtless he and his successors, Reverend Reed and Reverend Smith, gave some advanced instruction to the children. Cobb tells us that Miss Patience Bancroft conducted a select school during the winter of 1813. It is evident from his diaries that these schools continued to be held by some very capable teachers
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from that date until the war years at least. Many of the more prominent citizens sent their children to either New Salem or Deerfield academies after graduating from the district schools.
In 1883 the town appropriated $100. to support an evening school for eight weeks. This advanced school was taught usually by a teacher with at least some college background, and was restricted to pupils over 12 years of age. It continued until 1897, and then the state offered to pay the tuition of pupils who attended high schools in adjoining towns. The parents paid either their board or their transportation. Two Warwick children were enrolled in Orange in 1899 in this manner. In 1913 the state began to pay for the transportation as well as tuition, and from this time on most of the Warwick pupils attended high school.
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