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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01091 7745
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH-1900.
Annals
of the
People Called Methodists
in the
City of Gardiner, Me.,
bp
One of Them.
A. D. 1900.
AUGUSTA : KENNEBEC JOURNAL PRINT. 1900.
1918825
FOREWORD.
In compiling this little book I have made use of all the material at my command and have not hesitated to copy verbatim from any books or records to which I may have had access. I wish to tender my thanks to all the friends who have rendered any assistance to me in my labors. Every statement in the book is true to the best of my knowl- edge and belief and should any errors appear I trust you will kindly condone them, knowing that any work of this kind must depend to a large extent upon hearsay.
It will be noticed that the years placed off against the various sections of the book do not refer to the calendar years but to conference years, the conference usually meet- ing in the spring or early summer.
LINVILLE W. ROBBINS.
1
The compilation and publication of this book was under- taken as a memorial to my father, Edward Everett Robbins, for nearly twenty-five years a Trustee, Steward, Class leader, Chorister and Bass singer in the choir, and Superintendent of the Sunday school.
L. W. ROBBINS.
CHAPTER I.
IN GENERAL.
The Methodist Church is an outgrowth of the Wesleyan revival which took place in England in the early part of the eighteenth century.
A number of young men under the leadership of John and Chas. Wesley banded themselves together into a society for mutual improvement in scholarship and religious expe- rience. Both John and Chas. Wesley were members of the Church of England and continued as such until their death ; both were likewise rectors and were sons of a rector, Rev. Samuel Wesley of Epworth.
The Methodist Church, then, is a dissenting sect of the Church of England.
Christianity was first preached in England by mission- aries sent to that country by the Bishop of Ephesus. The Celtic people, the Britons, Scots and Picts, proved to be easily susceptible to the mild religion of Christ and the Druidical temples with their horrible human sacrifices and
other abominable rites, were very soon deserted. Who these early missionaries were or in what manner they trav- elled and labored are matters of conjecture, but it is certain that within one hundred years after the death of Christ, there was a church organization in Britain and a large num- ber of native Christians. Their history is one of progress
8
GARDINER M. E. CHURCH.
and peace until near the close of the fifth century. At this time myriads of Teutonic people swarmed over the Rhine, the natural boundary of Germany, and driving out or mur- dering the peaceful Celts, divided the fertile lands among their own tribes. Rome itself was endangered and recalled its armies for its own defence. The Roman army of occu- pation in Britain then left the island never to return. The Goths passing over the Alps, overran the plains of Lom- bardy and the fall and sack of Rome took place A. D. 487.
The return of the Roman army left Britain open to inva- sion, as the Britons were incapable of maintaining successful warfare against either the Picts and Scots at the North or the invaders from the South.
During the last half of the fifth century great bands of the Saxons and Angles crossed over into Britain, gave to the country their name, England, the Land of the Angles, and their language, the Anglo Saxon. This language, modified somewhat during the passage of the centuries, is the lan- guage we are using to-day.
The Angles and Saxons were wild and barbarous, pagans and idolaters, but little by little were converted to Chris- tianity. An important agent in their conversion was a monk named Augustine, sent by the Bishop of Rome. His mission was successful and through the conversion of their rulers the people readily accepted the new religion.
The history of the Church of England for the next thou- sand years is a varied one, but we can easily read one impor- tant fact running through it all, a growing subservience to the See of Rome.
The idea of one corporate church subservient to the Bishop of Rome was a thing not dreamed of by the Chris- tians of the first centuries. It was only after the destruc- tion, by the Saracens and Turks, of the power of the eastern
9
IN GENERAL.
bishops, that the Bishop of Rome attained an influence suffi- cient to demand feudal homage from all inferior bishops. This supremacy was always stoutly denied by the Eastern or Greek Church whose spiritual head was the Bishop of Ephesus, by whom theevangelization of Britain was effected. It was, likewise, denied by the church in Britain for :nany centuries. By degrees, however, the constant intriguing of the various popes, who, for favors granted by them, grad- ually obtained the power they desired, the supremacy of the Roman See became complete.
This power was no sooner acknowledged than conten- tions arose. The restless energy of the Saxon people refused to submit to the pretensions of an external, intrigu- ing bishop. The people clamored for knowledge; John Wycliffe translated the Bible into the language of the com- mon people and advocated the heresy that people should look to that book for the settlement of their theological questions, rather than to a foreign bishop.
The spread of learning through the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the, then, new art of printing, com- bined with infamous character of the lives of many of the popes at Rome and the rival popes at Avignon, made ready for the final throwing off of the yoke of the Bishop of Rome and a return to the conditions that obtained before the claims of Rome were recognized. This was done by the destruction of all monastic houses, the dispersion of the inmates and the compilation of the English Book of Com- mon Prayer. The separation of the Church of England from the Church of Rome was finally accomplished under Henry VIII.
The day of energy was succeeded by a night of lethargy. The public conscience became seared as with a hot iron. Vice and crime were the rule; virtue and justice the excep-
IO
GARDINER M. E. CHURCH.
tion. Men high in office and public favor were openly and notoriously corrupt. It is not well to specialize, the cor- ruption was confined to no state in society and to no indi- vidual. It was rather a general lowering of the popular ideal.
The reaction came through the Wesleys. These young men were students at Lincoln College, Oxford. Their pious and self-sacrificing manner of living gained for them the name "Holy Club" and for their studious observance of fasts and other ecclesiastical usages, their college mates called them "Methodists," a name that has become synon- ymous the world over with religious fervor and evangelical zeal.
After their graduation the reformers set out in their chosen occupation, of preaching to the people at large, the doctrine of "a definite religious experience" called by them conversion. The converts to this new order were very numerous, though it was never intended by the Wesleys that these people should separate from the Established Church and form a new sect. The separation came when the State Church, overcome by its political greed and pride, refused to recognize the work as of God.
Many of these converts came to America and formed small congregations ; at Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and other places. At that time this country was very sparsely populated ; settled ministers were rare and only to be found in the larger towns. From these circumstances arose the "Methodist Circuit Rider" to whom this country owes so much. Mounted upon a horse and having all his earthly possessions in the saddle-bags, this heroic individual would ride from one end of his "circuit" to the other, fre- quently hundreds of square miles in extent, stopping wher- ever night overtook him, and preaching whenever oppor-
II
IN GENERAL.
tunity offered. His arrival at any place would be noised abroad and a small crowd would assemble from miles around to hear him. A stump in fair weather would be his pulpit ; in foul a barn or a kitchen would shelter the congre- gation ; and under such discouraging conditions the "Rider" would break to them the Bread of Life. From such small beginnings has grown the Methodist Episcopal Church in America.
The Methodist Episcopal Church of to-day is essentially the same as in the early days. The people are gathered into congregations in charge of a pastor. The helpers among the laymen are united into an official board com- posed of the trustees, to whom is deeded the church prop- erty, and the stewards who are class-leaders, etc.
A varying number of parishes are united into a district and one of the ministers is appointed a presiding elder who has the general oversight of the district, meeting each charge in turn in a quarterly Conference.
One or more districts unite to form an Annual Conference which holds a session once each year, when the work of the year is carefully collated and the ministers are sent to the various fields of labor. Hence it is that no minister receives an appointment for a longer term than one year but may be reappointed to one parish year after year for a term of five years but no longer.
The presiding officer over an Annual Conference is a bishop who appoints the presiding elders, one for each dis- trict, and acting under the advice of these elders, he appoints the ministers to the various charges of the Con- ference.
The boundaries of a Conference are made to coincide with state lines as nearly as possible, though one state may be divided into two or more Conferences.
12
GARDINER M. E. CHURCH.
The Annual Conferences elect delegates to a General Con- ference of the United States convening in some central city once in four years whose duty it is to care for the state of the church, define the articles of faith, and settle such ques- tions as may come before it for settlement.
An Ecumenical Conference composed of delegates from all the Methodist Bodies in the world meets as often as necessity demand and considers questions relating to the church in general.
Two sessions have been held, one in London and the other in Washington.
"The world is my parish," said John Wesley when he was asked why he did not locate. With this as its motto the church has penetrated every country under the sun and its members may be found speaking every language and almost every dialect in the world.
The Methodist Church deems itself a part of the Universal Church and accepts the Apostles' Creed as a terse state- ment of its faith. It believes that every person born into this world is a member of the Church of Christ until having arrived at the age of discretion he deliberately chooses the wrong. It is then the duty of the members of the church to endeavor to reclaim such a wanderer. From this arises the peculiar revivals characteristic of the Methodist Church, also the campmeetings, though these latter have largely lost their original significance, especially in the East; a belief in the reality of sin, and the certainty of punishment there- for combined with a desire to flee from the wrath to come, through the merits of the atonement of Christ, are the essentials for membership in the church.
CHAPTER II.
CHRONOLOGICAL.
The first Methodist preacher to enter New England and combat the Calvinistic theology which was the prevailing belief at the time, was Jesse Lee. Jesse Lee was born in Virginia in 1758 and entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1783. After serving for six years in the southern part of the United States he was appointed to New England by the New York Conference in 1789.
A description of his personal appearance may not be unin- teresting. He was physically a giant being very tall and not at all slim. His voice was soft and well modulated and he was, withal, a beautiful singer.
Having established societies in many places in Southern New England he turned his attention towards the Province of Maine, at that time a part of the state of Massachusetts.
Maine was then an unbroken wilderness excepting a fringe of settlements on the coast and along the banks of some of the principal rivers. There were settlements at this time in Pittston, which included Gardiner; Hallowell, embracing within its limits the present towns of Farming- dale and Chelsea; Augusta; and Fairfield.
The first Methodist sermon heard in Maine was preached by the heroic Lee at Saco, September 10, 1793. In October 13 of the same year he preached at Hallowell but none were
14
GARDINER M. E. CHURCH.
then found in that place who cared to entertain this weary and hungry missionary. So great was the antipathy, then, to anything opposed to the established order of things.
1794. Lee having explored the Province of Maine the previous year, in 1794 Philip Wager was appointed preacher to the extensive circuit. He gathered at Monmouth, the first Methodist class formed within the Province of Maine. The date was November 1, 1794.
1795. At the session of the New England Conference held in New London, Conn., July 15, 1795, Maine was divided into three circuits and Enoch Mudge and Elias Hull were sent to Readfield circuit.
1796. The New England Conference held its session this year at Thompson, Conn. Readfield circuit was divided into two and Kennebec circuit, including all the settlements on both sides of the river from Richmond to Skowhegan, was formed from the eastern portion. Aaron Humphrey was the preacher in charge.
1797. The Conference assembled at Wilbraham sent Jesse Stoneham to the Kennebec circuit, but accounts of his work are wanting. The growth was probably slow.
1798. The New England Conference met at Readfield, Me., August 29, 1798, for its first session within the Prov- ince of Maine. Roger Searle was sent to Kennebec circuit.
1799. The Conference session was held in New York during this year and there were reported from Maine one thousand one hundred seventeen members and from Ken- nebec circuit one hundred ninety-six.
I5
CHRONOLOGICAL.
1800. The Conference this year appointed Daniel Webb to the Kennebec circuit. In the summer of this year Andrew Goodwin, Gershom Cox, Jesse Kimball and others residing on the east side of the Kennebec river in Hallowell, (now the town of Chelsea) united in requesting the Metho- dist preachers to visit them.
Epaphras Kibbey and Comfort C. Smith who were the preachers on the Readfield circuit accepted this invitation. They preached to the people in Hallowell and also at Bow- man's Point.
The services were usually held in the open air when the weather permitted. A schoolhouse or barn or even a farmer's kitchen held the congregation during stormy weather. These services consisted of some singing by the people led by the preacher, he reading two lines of the hymns and the congregation singing them, then two lines more and so on.
Then came the sermon. In most energetic language the preacher told of a heaven to win and a hell to shun, depict- ing the glories of the former and the misery of the latter in forcible and eloquent language. At the close of the sermon all unconverted persons in the audience were invited to come forward to the altar where the prayers of the minister and his helpers were offered for them.
The success of these circuit preachers was remarkable and the number of seekers was often to be reckoned by scores. Their labors and sufferings were often great but so also was their reward.
During this year and the next services were held at the point at irregular intervals but there was no organization until 1802. The work of grace, however, continued to grow and the people called Methodists increased in numbers. Just why the class was not immediately formed is explained
16
GARDINER M. E. CHURCH.
by the fact that the country was practically an unbroken wilderness, the people few and widely scattered and the visits of the circuit preachers few and widely separated. Active opposition also manifested itself from the very begin- ning.
Kibbey was a devoted and successful preacher. A remarkable reformation commenced under one of his sermons at Monmouth, which extended into the sur- rounding towns. The effects of this revival reached Hal- lowell, and resulted in the introduction of Methodism into that town ; not, however, without the most strenuous opposi- tion, that manifested itself in persecution, and even in the violence of mobs. The schoolhouse where Kibbey was preaching to the assembled Methodists was assailed by a riotous company of the baser sort. The windows were broken with brickbats and the congregation was disturbed by the noise and many of them insulted and terrified by the rude assailants.
1802. The New England Conference held its second session in Maine at Monmouth, July, 1802. At this con- ference Hallowell circuit was formed embracing all the terri- tory in the towns on both sides of the Kennebec from Gar- diner to Skowhegan. Comfort C. Smith and Aaron Humphrey were appointed preachers on this circuit. The whole Province of Maine then contained but ten circuits all included in one district under the charge of Ralph Williston as presiding elder. The converts obtained during the pre- ceding years were this year organized into a class, but their place of worship is not known. The class-leader is not known but it is believed to be Moses Springer, Sr.
Captain Moses Springer was one of the earliest settlers in this part of the country. He bought all the land on both sides of the street now called Bowman street, extending back
I7
CHRONOLOGICAL.
from the river a number of miles. His business was that of shipbuilding and his shipyard was located near the place where the sawmill on Bowman's Point now stands. The war between the United States and France in 1794 proved costly to him as many of his vessels were then taken by the French privateers. The so-called French Spoilation Claims are the claims for re-imbursement introduced in Congress
CHURCH ON BOWMAN'S POINT. Drawn from memory by Mrs. Harriet Perry. The fence at the right is the town pound.
by the heirs of Mr. Springer and others whose property was destroyed in the same way.
Personally he was rather stout and of medium height. He was a fine navigator and an excellent master of a vessel and was captain of various vessels when a young man.
After retiring from the sea, he devoted his attention to his shipbuilding interests. He was very religious and was one 2
18
GARDINER M. E. CHURCH.
of the earliest Methodists, serving as clerk of the circuit from 1818 until his death which occurred at his home near the Point about 1830.
1803. In the summer of 1803 a meeting-house was erected at Bowman's Point on the intervale south of the house now owned by Warren Seavey and exactly opposite the end of Bowman street, which was for a long time called Meeting-House lane.
The building was forty-five feet in length by forty feet in width. It was clapboarded and shingled on the outside but was left rough and unfinished within. There was no ceiling nor walls except the rough boards on the outside of the church. The heavy rafters and great trusses used to sup- port the roof were visible between the huge cross timbers running from one side of the house to the other. Small windows in two stories were placed in the walls of the church and there was no apparatus whatever for heating the edifice. In winter the women were accustomed to bring iron kettles filled with hot coals to enable them to withstand the cold.
Rough board seats were provided and a wide gallery sur- rounded the building thus offering ample accommodations for the devoted band of worshippers, who were accustomed to assemble there to worship.
One spring there was a flood in the river and a lot of logs floating down struck the side of the building and badly damaged it. This accident, combined with the increase of population around the mouth of the Cobbossee, led to the ultimate disuse of the building and it was finally degraded into a stable. It is now in Hallowell on Union street and is the property of the Hallowell Granite Company.
19
CHRONOLOGICAL.
From the Conference held in Boston July, 1803, Aaron Humphrey and Samuel Hillman were appointed to this cir- cuit and Joshua Taylor had charge as presiding elder of the Maine district. There was quite an increase this year in the number of members in the society.
1804. So popular upon this charge was Aaron Humph- rey that from the Conference held in Buxton in 1804 he was returned to Hallowell circuit for the third time. The rule limiting the term of a preacher's continuance on one circuit to two years had not then been adopted. Daniel Perry was sent as Mr. Humphrey's colleague under Joshua Soule (afterward Bishop) as presiding elder of the District of Maine. "This was a year of revivals throughout the State. The good work commenced at Conference; forty persons having been converted during the week of its session at Buxton" says the report of that year.
Hallowell circuit shared largely in this outpouring of God's Spirit. A number were converted at Bowman's Point and new interest was manifested throughout the town to examine the strange doctrines of the Methodists, a sect everywhere spoken against. Much opposition to the labor of the itinerants was manifested on the part of those who were committed in favor of a settled ministry and the estab- lished order of religious worship. While others to whom the enforced payment of parish taxes for the support of a minister, sustained by law, was exceedingly odious, sympa- thized with the Methodists and gave them their hearty co-operation. "But through evil report as well as good the work extended its widening way; the flatteries of the worldly friends of Methodism were as dangerous as the opposition of its bigoted foes."
20
GARDINER M. E. CHURCH.
1805. From the Conference held in Lynn in 1805, Thomas Perry received his appointment to this circuit. There was no decline in the religious interest manifested the previous year. Great increase was made to the number of believers. One hundred and eighty-seven church members were reported at the close of the year.
1806. In 1806 the Conference met at Canaan, N. H. Two districts were formed in Maine and Joshua Soule was continued as Presiding Elder of the eastern portion of the Kennebec District. David Carr was appointed preacher upon Hallowell circuit. Much dissatisfaction was mani- fested by the society on account of the preacher's youth and inexperience, immediately after his arrival upon the charge. An exchange of preachers was made through the Presiding Elder and A. H. Cobb who had been appointed to Bristol circuit took Mr. Carr's place. Such manifestations of dis- satisfaction are exceedingly disadvantageous to any society. The result of this rejection of the preacher sent by Confer- ence was a loss of spiritual life and a sad diminution of numbers; only one hundred and fifteen being returned at the close of the year.
1807. From the Conference held in Boston in June, 1807, Caleb Fogg was sent to Hallowell circuit. He was eccentric in many respects ; a preacher of vigorous original thought and a strong opponent of fatalism in all its mani- festations ; insisting always on man's responsibility and the freeness of the offers of salvation. His Bible was always about him and he carried the conviction of his deep piety even to the hearts of those who disliked the plain unvar- nished delineation of truth he was accustomed to exhibit.
21
CHRONOLOGICAL.
1808. The New England Conference met in 1808 at New London, Conn. From this Conference Henry Martin was appointed preacher to Hallowell circuit; and Oliver Beale, Presiding Elder of the Kennebec District. After laboring on the circuit for a few months, Martin, with the approbation of the Presiding Elder engaged in a missionary excursion.
He had hardly commenced these extended labors when he fell in the conflict. His illness was short and painful which he endured with Christian submission. He died at George- town, December, 1808.
During this year a class was formed at the village of Hal- lowell and Elihu Robinson of Augusta, served as class leader. Mr. Robinson, the leader of the class, was accus- tomed to travel from Augusta on horseback with his wife behind him on the same horse. The appearance of this worthy couple furnishes a striking illustration of primitive Methodism. The broad-brimmed hat and straight-bodied coat with its standing collar; the neat Quaker bonnet and fringeless shawl, have alike passed away.
1809. In 1809 Ebenezer F. Newell was sent to the circuit from the Conference which held its session at Monmouth. His ministry was characterized by a great increase in inter- est, especially at Augusta where the number of members was largely augmented.
1810. In 1810 the New England Conference met at Winchester, N. H. Zachariah Gibson was appointed to Hallowell circuit. At first he was very popular among the people and universally considered a young preacher of superior. talents. He did not retain his popularity to the
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